Might 14, 2024
UPDATE
App Retailer stopped over $7 billion in doubtlessly fraudulent transactions in 4 years
Since launching the App Retailer in 2008, Apple has continued to spend money on and develop industry-leading applied sciences designed to supply customers with the most secure and most safe expertise for downloading apps, and a vibrant and modern platform for builders to distribute their software program. As we speak, the App Retailer stands on the forefront of app distribution, setting the usual for safety, reliability, and person expertise.
As digital threats have advanced in scope and complexity over time, Apple has expanded its antifraud initiatives to handle these challenges and assist defend its customers. Daily, groups throughout Apple monitor and examine fraudulent exercise on the App Retailer, and make the most of refined instruments and applied sciences to weed out dangerous actors and assist strengthen the App Retailer ecosystem.
From 2020 by 2023, Apple prevented a mixed complete of over $7 billion in doubtlessly fraudulent transactions, together with greater than $1.8 billion in 2023 alone. In the identical interval, Apple blocked over 14 million stolen bank cards and greater than 3.3 million accounts from transacting once more.
As printed in its fourth annual fraud prevention evaluation launched at this time, Apple discovered that in 2023, it rejected greater than 1.7 million app submissions for failing to fulfill the App Retailer’s stringent requirements for privateness, safety, and content material. As well as, Apple’s persistent efforts to cease and scale back fraud on the App Retailer resulted within the termination of practically 374 million developer and buyer accounts, and removing of near 152 million rankings and opinions over fraud considerations.
Account Fraud
Apple has developed strong techniques to root out fraudulent buyer and developer accounts shortly and successfully to stop such actors from defrauding customers. In 2023, Apple terminated near 118,000 developer accounts, a lower from 428,000 terminations from the prior yr, due to continued enhancements to stop the creation of probably fraudulent accounts within the first place. As well as, greater than 91,000 developer enrollments have been rejected for fraud considerations and prevented from submitting problematic apps to the App Retailer.
Dangerous exercise can even happen on the buyer account stage, and Apple takes quite a lot of measures to guard customers and builders from ill-intended events. These accounts are typically bots which might be created for the needs of spamming or manipulating rankings and opinions, charts, and search outcomes, which threaten the integrity of the App Retailer and its customers and builders. In 2023, Apple blocked over 153 million fraudulent buyer account creations and deactivated practically 374 million accounts for fraud and abuse.
Apple’s dedication to belief and security extends past the App Retailer, having detected and blocked greater than 47,000 illegitimate apps on pirate storefronts from reaching customers over the past 12 months. Blocking apps from pirate storefronts can also be useful to builders, whose apps could possibly be modified or used to disguise malicious software program for distribution on these platforms.
Moreover, within the final month, Apple stopped practically 3.8 million makes an attempt to put in or launch apps distributed illicitly by the Developer Enterprise Program, which permits giant organizations to deploy inner apps to be used by workers.
App Assessment
Apple’s App Assessment staff of over 500 specialists evaluates each single app submission — from builders world wide — earlier than any app ever reaches customers. On common, the staff opinions roughly 132,500 apps every week, and in 2023, reviewed practically 6.9 million app submissions whereas serving to greater than 192,000 builders publish their first app onto the App Retailer.
App Assessment conducts quite a lot of checks earlier than any app makes its approach onto the shop, and leverages automated processes and human evaluate to detect and take motion on apps with the potential to hurt or defraud customers. In 2023, greater than 1.7 million app submissions have been rejected for numerous causes, together with privateness violations and fraudulent exercise.
Unhealthy actors make use of misleading ways to hurt customers, together with the observe of disguising doubtlessly dangerous apps as innocuous ones. Over the previous yr, there have been quite a few situations the place App Assessment recognized apps initially misrepresented as innocent merchandise — equivalent to photograph editors or puzzle video games — that later remodeled postreview into pirate film streaming platforms, unlawful playing apps, or fraudulent and predatory mortgage issuers.
In some excessive situations, the staff additionally recognized and eliminated monetary service apps concerned in complicated and malicious social engineering efforts designed to defraud customers, together with apps impersonating identified companies to facilitate phishing campaigns and that offered fraudulent monetary and funding companies. By way of its ongoing work to evaluate each app submission and examine problematic apps on the App Retailer, App Assessment, in 2023, eliminated or rejected 40,000 apps from builders who engaged in bait-and-switch exercise.
Malicious actors can even design apps with the intention to trick and rip-off customers. In 2023, greater than 248,000 app submissions have been rejected from the App Retailer as a result of they violated Apple’s insurance policies in opposition to spam, blatantly copying different apps, or in any other case deceptive customers. That is along with over 38,000 app submissions that have been rejected for holding hidden or undocumented options. Apps which might be designed to entry customers’ non-public, private knowledge with out their permission or information are additionally prohibited from the App Retailer. Final yr alone, over 375,000 app submissions have been rejected for privateness violations.
App Assessment is diligent in investigating and taking motion in opposition to apps reported as fraudulent or malicious by Apple’s Report a Drawback instrument. Fraudulent apps are instantly faraway from the App Retailer, and the developer faces the danger of termination from the Apple Developer Program, which might additionally lead to any unapproved apps beneath their account being blocked from the shop. In 2023, App Assessment took motion to stop practically 98,000 doubtlessly fraudulent apps from reaching customers on the App Retailer.
Rankings and Opinions
Rankings and opinions are a necessary useful resource for customers searching for their subsequent app and a priceless instrument for builders to obtain significant person suggestions about their merchandise. In 2023, with over 1.1 billion rankings and opinions processed, Apple eliminated practically 152 million fraudulent rankings and opinions from the App Retailer.
Cost and Credit score Card Fraud
From family items to leisure companies, apps have develop into a mainstream approach for customers to make purchases. Apple is diligent in its efforts to guard customers’ monetary info by its safe fee applied sciences like Apple Pay and StoreKit, which practically 1 million apps use to promote items and companies on the App Retailer. And as fraud losses globally attain new highs, Apple helped forestall greater than $1.8 billion in doubtlessly fraudulent transactions on its platform in 2023.
Apple takes bank card fraud extraordinarily critically and stays dedicated to defending the App Retailer and its customers. For instance, when shoppers make a purchase order with Apple Pay, it makes use of a device-specific quantity and distinctive transaction code so a card quantity is rarely saved on a shopper’s system or on Apple servers. Moreover, credit score and debit card numbers are by no means shared with builders, thus eliminating one other danger issue within the fee transaction course of.
When shoppers use Apple Pay to make a purchase order on-line or in-app, playing cards with sure enhanced fraud prevention will allow a shopper’s system to judge info — equivalent to their Apple ID, system, and site if they’ve Location Providers for Pockets turned on — with the intention to develop on-device fraud prevention assessments.
Apple additionally leverages a mix of superior know-how and human evaluate to detect when a stolen bank card is getting used for illicit functions. In 2023 alone, Apple prevented greater than 3.5 million stolen bank cards from getting used to make fraudulent purchases and banned over 1.1 million accounts from transacting once more.
Holding the App Retailer Protected
Apple has devoted a complicated suite of instruments and assets to make sure the App Retailer is a protected and trusted place for customers and builders. By thwarting the fraudulent efforts of dangerous actors, Apple ensures customers can set up software program onto their private gadgets figuring out there are a variety of safeguards in place to guard them, and builders have a dependable retailer with a powerful repute to distribute their apps and video games.
Apple will proceed to spend money on its long-standing dedication to guard the standard and safety of the App Retailer in one of the best pursuits of all customers and builders.
Press Contacts
Archelle Thelemaque
Apple
Adam Dema
Apple
Apple Media Helpline
